Recipes for when you're in your "food is medicine" era
Don't worry, we're still eating chocolate chip cookies.
Hello, chefs.
There have been many seasons in my relationship with food. This most recent stretch has been the longest and most fun: I eat exactly what I want, when I want it, and I revel in it. I have bagels and cinnamon rolls on Saturday mornings, pop chocolate chip cookie dough in the oven whenever I feel like it, make steaks and oysters and fries and ragu just for kicks. I butter my toast generously and have two fresh eggs from the coop every morning, to hell with cholesterol.
The part about this that’s really something to talk about is that I can’t remember the last time I felt guilty about what, when, or how much I ate, even last night when my boyfriend grabbed the 6 pound bag of Black Forest gummy bears that we bought on Saturday and said, kind of in awe at the damage I’d done in just a few days, “holy shit, babe.”
The thing about food is that it’s a feeling. Growing up in the 90s and early 2000s, there was a steady rotation of teen magazines in my house that told me what I should be eating to have a six pack by prom. I’d pack my lunch bag with fat-free cottage cheese and rice cakes and celery and wonder why I felt like absolute dog shit at track practice. Eating what magazines told me to eat made me feel like shit because my body didn’t ask for it. It wasn’t until I was well into my twenties that I came to terms with the fact that I’m never going to have Jessica Alba’s body type, and that neither disqualifies me from being hot as hell nor means that I need to punish my body into some less capable, less fulfilled version of itself as a result.
We have a dear friend who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, and we’ve been talking a lot about how food matters for her on the road ahead. When you’re sick, eating food at all can be hard (you’re talking to the gal who pounded Ensures in lieu of solid food for a month in 2021), so when you can eat, you need to make the most of it. So this week, I’ve done a lot of veggie-heavy cooking with as few animal products as possible. If you’re looking for a way to bestow a little kindness on a stranger today, by the way, here’s how you can help Ashley.
So yes: food is medicine. Sometimes the medicine is the elation or nostalgia you feel after a first bite, something to bring you back to yourself. And sometimes the medicine is the biological goings-on that I won’t pretend to understand (but if you want to, you should talk to my friend Grace). This week, we’re cooking things that do both. Por qué no los dos?
-Faith
Green pasta salad
This pasta salad is a vehicle for packing green things into your bloodstream. We’re still working on a huge bowl of it in the fridge—you can top with protein or eat it solo.
1 box orecchiette
1 head asparagus
1 bag snap peas
1 can artichokes
1 lemon, juice and zest
1 large shallot
Handful each of spinach and any herbs you have on hand - I used basil, dill, mint, and parsley
Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes
Boil your pasta in salted water and strain.
Chop your asparagus into bite-sized pieces and saute in a bit of olive oil just until softened.
Slice your peas and artichokes into bite sized pieces.
In a blender, blend your lemon zest and juice, shallot, spinach, herbs, and seasonings (salt, pepper, red pepper flakes) with a bit of olive oil until you have a smooth pesto.
Toss it all together!
Vegan chocolate chip cookies
Because nothing is more comforting than a dang chocolate chip cookie. The only special bits about this recipe are the coconut sugar (I think it gives it a bit of an earthy feel), the vegan butter, and the egg replacer, but WOW these are delicious. Original recipe here.
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp vegan butter, room temp (you can probably sub in Crisco for this - I haven’t tried it, but give it a go!)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 tablespoon egg replacer (Bob’s Red Mill makes this and you can find it in the baking aisle. Mix it with 2 tablespoons of water and you’re ready to rock)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
12 oz vegan chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate)
Preheat oven to 350.
In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars. Add your egg replacer paste (1 tbsp powder + 2 tbsp water), beat, then add your vanilla and beat again. Scrape down the sides.
Add the flour, salt, and baking soda, and mix. Add your chocolate and mix.
On two lined baking sheets, shape and generously space 8 huuuuuuge cookie dough balls. You should only get 8 cookies out of this recipe, so make those babies BIG. Press them down slightly and bake for 20 minutes or until golden.